Dow Flinches After S&P 500 and Nasdaq Pound to Record Highs
Dow Jones Industrial Average futures had traded up for most of the pre-market session, but the index slumped at the bell. By 9:40 am ET, the DJIA had lost 11.69 points or 0.04 percent to trade at 26,644.70. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq traded sideways, with the former unchanged and the latter gaining 4.46 points or 0.05 percent.
The Dow opened to minor losses after implying gains throughout most of the pre-market session. | Source: Yahoo Finance
On Tuesday, earnings optimism launched the Dow to 26,656.39 for a gain of 145.34 points or 0.55 percent. At the closing bell, the DJIA sat just 1.1 percent off its all-time high. Wall Street’s other two major indices already clambered to new records. The S&P 500 shot up 0.9 percent to a new peak at 2,933.68, and the Nasdaq surged 1.3 percent to 8,120.82 to round out a historic day for the US stock market.
This morning, Dow fought off more bearish news from Boeing to hold near its previous-day level. The beleaguered aerospace giant yanked its 2019 guidance in the wake of its 737 MAX disaster, but better-than-expected earnings from Caterpillar salvaged the DJIA’s premarket session. However, the Dow failed to establish the sort of momentum necessary to vault the index to a new all-time high of its own.
Hillary Clinton Divulges ‘Roadmap’ to Trump Impeachment
Wednesday’s tepid open followed Hillary Clinton’s shocking claim that she believes the Mueller report presents Democrats with a roadmap to impeach her old political foe, Donald Trump.
Speaking at the Time 100 Summit, the former Democratic presidential candidate alleged that, contrary to what Trump has repeatedly claimed, the Mueller report presents Democrats with an opportunity to oust a president that they believe stole the White House in the first place.
“I know what [an impeachable offense] looks like, and I know what is required to do it in a way that wins the trust and confidence, not only of the Congress but of the American people. But I certainly think that the roadmap, as some call it, of the Mueller report raises so many serious questions in part one about what the Russians did, which is beyond debate, and in part two about all of the evidence about obstruction.”
“I think there is enough there that any other person who had engaged in those acts would certainly have been indicted.” @HillaryClinton on whether Donald Trump obstructed justice or not at the #TIME100 Summit https://t.co/LesjLJH44j pic.twitter.com/rRg2MnEmA9
— TIME (@TIME) April 23, 2019
Referring to the redacted version of the Mueller report as the “end of the beginning,” she hinted that the unredacted document could divulge damning information about Trump’s activities during and after the 2016 presidential election.
“I’m really of the mind that the Mueller report is part of the beginning… because there’s still so much more that we should know and that we should act upon… And we’re a long way from knowing because we need to get the full report — the unredacted version.”
Then, as if to clear up any doubt that she believed President Trump could one day be tossed out of the Oval Office, she suggested that he should have been indicted for the activities outlined in the Mueller report.
“I think there is enough there that any other person who had engaged in those acts would certainly have been indicted.”
Trump Rages as Impeachment Talk Distracts from Stock Market
You mean the Stock Market hit an all-time record high today and they’re actually talking impeachment!? Will I ever be given credit for anything by the Fake News Media or Radical Liberal Dems? NO COLLUSION!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 23, 2019
Unsurprisingly, Clinton’s comments sent Trump into a rage, and he unleashed a vicious tweetstorm on his favorite social media platform that accused the “Fake News Media” and “Radical Liberal Dems” of pounding the drum on impeachment to distract voters from the stock market’s historic bull run.
“You mean the Stock Market hit an all-time record high today and they’re actually talking impeachment!? Will I ever be given credit for anything by the Fake News Media or Radical Liberal Dems? NO COLLUSION!”
“I DID NOTHING WRONG,” he ranted in tweets posted on Wednesday morning. “Not only are there no “High Crimes and Misdemeanors,” there are no Crimes by me at all. All of the Crimes were committed by Crooked Hillary, the Dems, the DNC and Dirty Cops – and we caught them in the act! We waited for Mueller and WON, so now the Dems look to Congress as last hope!”
Trump, as CCN reported, believes a booming stock market vindicates his presidency, and he has repeatedly claimed that a Clinton victory in 2016 would have sent the Dow into a tailspin.
The Dow (blue), S&P 500 (red), and Nasdaq (black) have all boomed throughout Trump’s presidency. As the stock market hits new highs, he’s incensed that the media won’t credit him with spurring Wall Street’s bull run. | Source: Yahoo Finance
Few political analysts believe that the Democrats will actually attempt to impeach Trump, despite the fact that much of the progressive base demands that they do just that.
However, if Congress follows Clinton’s cue and initiates impeachment proceedings anyway, there’s no doubt that it would distract the public from the feverish stock market – the crown jewel of Trump’s 2020 campaign platform. And there’s a strong possibility the political volatility would spill over into Wall Street as well.
Click here for a real-time Dow Jones Industrial Average price chart.